A hospital in Taoyuan County has filed defamation charges against netizens who reposted an online article that had erroneously pinned a case of misdiagnosis on it.
On Oct. 4, an article appeared on the Internet accusing a hospital, without giving its name, in Taoyuan’s Chungli City (中壢) of mistakenly diagnosing a female junior-high school student, surnamed Yu (游), who had sought medical assistance there.
As the article was reposted, some netizens incorporated fabricated content into the original version, misattributing the incident to the Landseed Hospital, which the article said was located in the county’s Chungli, and its proprietor, Chang Huan-chen (張煥禎).
A sentence alleging that Chang had demanded that the story be withdrawn was also added.
The hospital decided to press charges against whoever shared the article to hold netizens accountable for the content they published on the Internet.
“We went through all our medical records in an attempt to verify the article. No one with that surname was found to have sought outpatient treatment at our facility,” the hospital said.
“Most importantly, the Landseed Hospital is located in Pingjhen (平鎮), rather than in Chungli as some netizens claimed,” the hospital said. “The fabricated version is outright wrong, yet it had been widely shared, which is why we decided to take those who had spread the story to court.”
The hospital added that as no reference to the Landseed Hospital was made in the original version, it would not demand the article’s removal from the Internet.
A preliminary search by the hospital found that the falsified version of the article has been posted on at least four online forums, including Cartino, QOOS, 94im and 105life.
As most netizens who had shared the article registered on these Web sites may have already deleted their posts, the hospital is trying to identify them by tracking their IP addresses.
The hospital is still ascertaining the actual number of netizens involved in the case.
Landseed Hospital superintendent Huang Chung-chih (黃忠智) said the hospital has entrusted a counselor to take legal action in a bid to safeguard the reputations of both the facility and Chang.
“Netizens are advised against arbitrarily sharing stories without any prior verification to avoid breaking the law and ought to take full responsibility for their remarks on the Internet,” Huang said.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV